All the police stations in the world "can't shut him down."
His art of escapism has reached an unparalleled level
The king of Western magic – Houdini Harry Houdini
Shaw bernard once said that as one of the three most famous figures in the history of this world, real or fictional, Houdini enjoyed the same fame as Jesus Christ and Sherlock Holmes.
Harry Houdini (1874-1926), male, Hungarian Budapest, Jewish, is the world's most famous magician. The Master of Illusion, the King of Handcuffs, the Escape Entertainer, a writer, a pilot, an international superstar, and a pioneer of anti-pseudoscience who used magic to puncture the so-called "psychic". The challenge of death for those who have never been seen before or since has gone far beyond the limits of people's imagination. In his heyday from 1900 to 1926, his thrilling magic tricks such as "swallowing needles", "unlocking underwater", "escaping waterboarding" and so on amazed the audience. In his lifetime, he escaped 8,300 handcuffs, 12,000 corsets, and 2,000 death games. In the history of American magic, Houdini's name has become almost synonymous with escape. His ability to escape from seemingly impossible circumstances and perform these feats in public made him a legend of his time.
Swallow the steel needle and wear it in a line
Houdini was born on March 24, 1874, and his real name was erichweiss. Although he claimed throughout his life that he was born in Appleton, Wisconsin, USA, the truth is that he was born in Budapest, Hungary. Houdini had four brothers, an older sister, and the family immigrated to the United States when he was four years old.
Houdini had a poor childhood, and like his brothers, Houdini began working to support his family at the age of eight, selling newspapers and working as a shoe shine boy. The fact that Houdini left home at the age of 12 to live independently also makes the claim that Houdini has a strong Oedipus complex unbreakable, but Houdini's feelings for his mother are indeed very deep. The young Houdini wandered around the United States for nearly a year, sending as much money home as possible.
When Houdini was 13 years old, the parade performance of magician Lynn made him interested in magic. At the age of 17, Houdini did not want to work in the factory and chose magic. He teamed up with another magic enthusiast, Jack Herman, to form the "Houdini Brothers" magic troupe, whose unique job is "escape in a box". Later, Herman began to tire of magic, and Houdini's brother Cido became a new partner. Soon, Cido was replaced by singer and dancer Beth, who became not only Houdini's acting partner, but also his life partner.
Houdini was short, only 1.65 meters. He had curly black hair, dark gray eyes, and a sharp voice. Like many people from immigrant families, Houdini did not have much formal education. But he was physically strong and enterprising.
In 1894, Houdini and Beth joined a circus. Houdini experimented with various forms of magic, from playing cards to magic to box escape, but the audience was few and far between. In 1896, a disappointed Houdini ran a newspaper advertisement selling all his magic and secrets for $20, but unfortunately there were few people.
In 1899, when Houdini was performing at a bar in Minnesota, he was spotted by a troupe manager who hired him for $60. Since then, Houdini has played from Chicago to Los Angeles, and his reputation has been greatly enhanced.
Houdini had a needle-piercing skill: swallowing a dozen steel needles and a rope in a row, and then spitting them out, all the steel needles were already neatly worn on the rope. This became the cornerstone of his life's magic performances.
Prison handcuffs, can be freed
In 1896, Houdini visited a friend in Nova Scotia, Canada. The friend was a psychiatrist, there. For the first time in his life, Houdini saw a corset used to bind a mentally ill person. Shocked, he had a whim and decided to create a magic trick to get out of his corset. Later, Houdini was not only able to get out of the corset, but also hanging upside down, taking off the corset from a few meters above the ground.
In 1898, Houdini staged a challenging magic show— getting out of any pair of handcuffs offered by the audience. Houdini's uncuffing skills became a turning point in his magic career. On this basis, he created a variety of fascinating escape skills. For example, he could escape from prison; he could escape by jumping off a bridge in handcuffs; he could escape from an anti-locked box that had been thrown into the river; he could escape from a tight canvas pouch; he could even escape from a large paper bag so that the paper bag was unbroken. The most impressive escape technique is to get out of the water cell and the milk bucket.
William Carlush and Riley Sloommen, authors of the biography The Mysterious Life of Houdini, argue that Houdini's fame was by no means just because of his cleverness, but that Houdini made a deal with Chicago's senior detectives, and they helped Houdini become famous; in return, Houdini taught them their own untold tricks in magic. If this statement is true, it explains a mystery from Houdini's extraordinary life. He frequented the police station, publicly showing how he had escaped from handcuffs, shackles, corsets and cells, and boasted that no police station in the world could hold him.
Double Agent, Serving Britain and Germany
Biographers say Houdini used to double agent for both sides of the Atlantic.
In 1900, Houdini came to England and met William Melville, the swatman chief of Scotland Yard in London, demonstrating how to break free of handcuffs and pick locks. Soon, Melville became the head of the British spy organization and hired Houdini for espionage. In the same year, Houdini came to Germany to perform and conquered the audience in Berlin.
Houdini heard some German military secrets for the British. Once, while touring the Ruhr industrial region in Germany, Houdini accepted the challenge of Krupp and escaped from their strongest handcuffs. Krupp not only makes handcuffs, it is also a military factory. Taking this opportunity, Houdini got some information.
Houdini is extremely popular in Germany, and according to German newspapers, even prisoners in prisons are waiting in line to meet the master, eager to learn a trick and a half. On the eve of the outbreak of World War I, the German authorities also arranged for Houdini to perform. Therefore, it has been speculated that Houdini actually served Germany secretly. Houdini himself later admitted and detailed how he passed on messages between police officers in various countries. He once told the German police information held by the American police about the german criminals, and in exchange, the German police also revealed the internal information they had at hand to him.
Houdini's exotic popularity also spread to Russia. In 1903 he came to Moscow and persuaded the police to show him how to escape from a prison truck bound for Siberia, and the successful performance led him to a pass to the Russian royal family.
Houdini has said more than once that magic shows are just a livelihood and that he needs other ways to make money. He once declared that with his talents and talents, he must bring something other than entertainment to human society.
Dabble in movies and show off your stunts
Houdini opened a magic shop in New York, and for a while he spent his days signing and selling books for enthusiastic magic fans. From 1923 to 1924, he was president of the American Society of Magicians.
In 1910, Houdini bought a biplane from Germany, dismantled it and shipped it to Australia, where he planned to perform a wide-ranging tour. His plane became the first to fly over Australia, and he became the first to fly in Australia. Interestingly, he taught himself to drive a car to make it easier to get to the airport, but after the Australian tour, he gave up the plane and never drove a car again.
In 1919, Houdini founded the Houdini Film Company, where he became a film producer, actor and stunt stuntman. He has participated in works such as "Cruel Game", "Horror Island", "Mysterious Master", "Regeneration Man", "Agent Haldane", etc., and continues to show his skills in the film.
On March 1, 1921, Houdini was granted a patent for the design of a wetsuit. The invention stemmed from Houdini's interest in underwater escape. The patent statement states: "This is an invention of a deep-sea diving suit or diving protector, the purpose of which is to provide a new set of modified diving equipment that allows divers working in the water to quickly take off their equipment and return to the surface safely in various dangers." Another purpose is to make it easy for divers to put on or take off their wetsuits without the help of others. ”
Exposing "psychics" and violent death becomes a mystery
The death of his mother made Houdini notice the industry that was very prosperous at that time, psychic, that is, communication between the living and the dead. With the last 13 years of his life, Houdini began an open battle with the wizards. Using his magic techniques, Houdini can reproduce the various terrifying psychic phenomena, strange sounds and mysterious levitations created by psychics and "ghosts". His series of "revealed" performances was very popular, but it also aroused the hatred of those "psychic masters".
In October 1926, while Houdini was touring Canada, a college student named Gordon punched him in the locker room; another strange man attacked him again in the corridors of the hotel. Soon, Houdini, who was ill, suddenly fell on the stage while performing in Detroit, USA. He was immediately taken to Grace Hospital and diagnosed with peritonitis.
According to popular accounts at the time, the stranger's motivation for punching houdini was just to "test his famous fight against blows." Biographers believe that the strange man was most likely a killer hired by the "psychic masters", and it was the fatal blow of the man that caused Houdini to die.
In the summer of 1926, a few months before his death, Houdini had bought a bronze coffin, locked himself in the coffin and had the coffin sink into the swimming pool of a hotel, and an hour and a half later, the coffin was salvaged out of the water, the lid of the coffin was opened, and Houdini appeared in front of people with a smile and unscathed. That fall, Houdini began his tour with the coffin. Everywhere he went, he always displayed the coffin in the hall of the theater where he performed, allowing it to add a little character to his illusionary performance. He also jokingly told his wife to use the coffin to bury him in case of an accident during the performance.
In a word, Houdini died on October 31 of that year. The bodies of a generation of magicians were transported back to New York for burial in this coffin.
His last words were: "I'm tired of fighting." ”
"Houdini is a great egoist, a genius who doesn't tolerate any dissent, a brave adventurer, a writer, a collector, a super circus owner, a man of unfettered energy, an intriguing man, a performer with a strong ambition to get ahead, a man who is bent on throwing himself into the family, a speech artist, a man who dares to tackle any challenge. He was famous and by no means limited to the stage, but he spent a quarter of a century active on the stage, entertaining people as a 'miracle creator'. ”
Houdini at work
The ghost of Houdini and Abraham Lincoln
Houdini with the beautiful Beatrice in 1899
Houdini prepares to enter a torture cell filled with water
Houdini wearing a track and field team medal, 1890
In the milk can is Houdini
His art of escape had reached an unparalleled level of skill
In his lifetime, he escaped 8,300 handcuffs, 12,000 corsets, and 2,000 death games
Houdini, who is making a model of his hand used to "fingerprint a spirit."